Foucault, Las Meninas (abstract)

Michel Foucault. "Las Meninas." The Order of Things. New York: Random.
3ñ16.

IN THIS FAMOUS chapter of
Foucault's seminal book, Foucault examines the painting Las Meninas
(The Maids of Honor, 1656) by Spanish painter Diego Valasquez. The painting
represents the artist himself at work on a large canvas, only the back
of which is visible. In the front center is the princess Margarita and
her maids. On a mirror hung in the background are the faces of the King
and Queen, looking straight back into their reflection, or possibly looking
at us, the viewers, as it were. Aside from this "reflected" image, the
King and Queen are not visible to us.
The painting evokes the reciprocity of looking:
we can look at the painting, and it in effect looks back at us. However,
is it looking at us, or are we standing in the place of the King and Queen
who are reflected in the mirror on the opposite wall? The value of Valasquez's
painting for Foucault lies in the fact that it introduces uncertainties
in visual representation at a time when the image and paintings in general
were looked upon as "windows onto the world." Foucault finds that Las Meninas
was a very early critique of the supposed power of representation to confirm
an objective order visually. This close textual analysis is an excellent
introduction to the following enveloping treatise on the "order of things."
(Brent Whitmore.)